News in project management software

Expense report: how to manage it in complex projects

Expense report management is one of companies’ most sensitive and tricky tasks, especially for large projects.

The expense report is a core document that accounts for costs incurred by an employee during a trip or as part of a specific project.

Managing it can be challenging due to the variety of expenses involved and the complexity of the reporting process.

Let’s take a look at how to manage the expense report in complex projects.

CONTENT

The perfect expense report
Personal data
Expense list
Date and place
Reimbursement of expenses incurred
Managing expense reports in complex projects
Variety of expenses
Complexity of the reporting process
Twproject: a one-stop solution for managing expense reports

The perfect expense report

Expense report management is critical for many companies, and having a clear and comprehensive expense report is fundamental to ensuring accurate and timely reporting.

A “perfect” expense report should be transparent, detailed and comply with current regulations.

The current regulation on expense reports in Italy is Ministerial Decree 55/2014, which defines the requirements that expense reports must meet to be valid for tax filing purposes.

Here is what a perfect expense report should include:

Personal data

The basic information of the employee who sustained the expenses. They should be clear and accurate to avoid possible misunderstandings or errors. They include:

- Full Name: Complete identification of the employee.
- Company Name: The legal name of the business or body for which the employee works. It is fundamental to ensure that the expense report is associated with the proper organization, especially in large companies or groups having several companies.

Expense list

A comprehensive list of expenses is vital to understanding the nature and extent of costs incurred:

Detailed: Each expense should be described in detail, specifying, for example, whether it is a business dinner, a train ticket, or an overnight stay in a hotel.
Broken by category: Expenses should be split into categories, such as travel, food, accommodation, etc. This helps to understand the nature of expenses quickly and facilitates their approval and accounting.

Date and place

These details are key to putting expenses in context:

- Period: Specifying the dates when the expenses were incurred helps to understand the context and verify their relevance.
- Context: The place or event at which the expenses were sustained (e.g., a business conference in Milan or a client meeting in Rome) provides additional details about the nature of the expenses.

Reimbursement of expenses incurred

This section of the expense report should make it clear how and when the employee will be reimbursed:

Method of reimbursement: Whether by wire transfer, check or other means, it is key to specify how the employee will receive their reimbursement.
Refund times: Clearly state when the employee can expect to get reimbursed, for example, within 30 days of submitting the expense report.

Managing expense reports in complex projects

Managing expense reports in a complex project environment can be a significant challenge due to the variety of expenses and the reporting process’s complexity.

Some of the challenges and critical issues that can arise in managing expense reports in complex projects include:

Variety of expenses

In large projects, expenses can come from multiple sources and for different reasons:

- Travel and transfers: Business travel, both domestic and international, may include expenses for transportation, accommodation, food, and other related expenses.
- Procurement of goods and services: This may include software purchases, equipment, external consulting, and more.
- Events and trainings: Attending or hosting events, seminars or training courses may incur significant costs.
- Unexpected expenses: In any project, unexpected expenses may emerge during the course of the project and must be properly documented and justified.

Complexity of the reporting process

Reporting expenses in complex projects can be a tricky process:

- Expense approval: Any expense might require approval from different hierarchical levels or departments, such as finance or management.
- Verification and monitoring: Expenses must be reviewed to ensure they are legitimate, relevant to the project, and in compliance with company policies.
- Reporting: All expenses must be documented appropriately, with receipts, invoices, and other evidence justifying the amount spent.
- Reimbursement: Once approved, expenses must be reimbursed timely, per the procedures and timeframes established by the company.

Twproject: a one-stop solution for managing expense reports

In an age where digitization and automation are revolutionizing how businesses work, expense report management is no exception.

Manual expense management, relying on spreadsheets and folders full of receipts, has become obsolete and ineffective, especially in large businesses or complex projects.

Twproject stands out as a state-of-the-art solution, offering many features that make it a precious ally for businesses.

Here is a detailed analysis of its key features:

Multi-currency management: In an international context, companies must often manage expenses in different currencies. Twproject can manage expense reports in various currencies, ensuring accurate and up-to-date conversions and making reporting and approving costs incurred in foreign currencies easier.

Recurring and one-time expenses: Every company has recurring payments, such as subscriptions, but also one-time costs, such as travel expenses. Twproject allows both types to be managed effectively, enabling clear categorization and detailed tracking.

Personal expenses: An employee may incur an expense that does not fall under the company’s reimbursable items. Twproject also offers the option to record these expenses, ensuring a clear distinction between reimbursable and non-reimbursable expenses, thereby providing transparency and clarity in the reporting process.

Efficiency and accuracy: Managing expense reports with Twproject significantly reduces the time spent filling out, approving, and reimbursing expenses. It also minimizes the risk of human error, ensuring more accurate reporting.

Allocation to cost center: Whenever an expense report is inserted, it can be automatically associated with a specific cost center. This ensures that each expense is correctly recorded and allocated to the right project or department.

Accessibility and traceability: Expense information will become accessible in real-time from any device, allowing better tracking of expenses and greater transparency in the process.

Bottom line, Twproject is not just a project management tool but also a comprehensive solution for managing expense reports.

Its versatility and advanced features make it a great option for companies looking for an effective and reliable way to manage expenses.

The perfect expense report

Expense report management is critical for many companies, and having a clear and comprehensive expense report is fundamental to ensuring accurate and timely reporting.

A “perfect” expense report should be transparent, detailed and comply with current regulations.

The current regulation on expense reports in Italy is Ministerial Decree 55/2014, which defines the requirements that expense reports must meet to be valid for tax filing purposes.

Here is what a perfect expense report should include:

Personal data

The basic information of the employee who sustained the expenses. They should be clear and accurate to avoid possible misunderstandings or errors. They include:

- Full Name: Complete identification of the employee.
- Company Name: The legal name of the business or body for which the employee works. It is fundamental to ensure that the expense report is associated with the proper organization, especially in large companies or groups having several companies.

Expense list

A comprehensive list of expenses is vital to understanding the nature and extent of costs incurred:

Detailed: Each expense should be described in detail, specifying, for example, whether it is a business dinner, a train ticket, or an overnight stay in a hotel.
Broken by category: Expenses should be split into categories, such as travel, food, accommodation, etc. This helps to understand the nature of expenses quickly and facilitates their approval and accounting.

Date and place

These details are key to putting expenses in context:

- Period: Specifying the dates when the expenses were incurred helps to understand the context and verify their relevance.
- Context: The place or event at which the expenses were sustained (e.g., a business conference in Milan or a client meeting in Rome) provides additional details about the nature of the expenses.

Reimbursement of expenses incurred

This section of the expense report should make it clear how and when the employee will be reimbursed:

Method of reimbursement: Whether by wire transfer, check or other means, it is key to specify how the employee will receive their reimbursement.
Refund times: Clearly state when the employee can expect to get reimbursed, for example, within 30 days of submitting the expense report.

Managing expense reports in complex projects

Managing expense reports in a complex project environment can be a significant challenge due to the variety of expenses and the reporting process’s complexity.

Some of the challenges and critical issues that can arise in managing expense reports in complex projects include:

Variety of expenses

In large projects, expenses can come from multiple sources and for different reasons:

- Travel and transfers: Business travel, both domestic and international, may include expenses for transportation, accommodation, food, and other related expenses.
- Procurement of goods and services: This may include software purchases, equipment, external consulting, and more.
- Events and trainings: Attending or hosting events, seminars or training courses may incur significant costs.
- Unexpected expenses: In any project, unexpected expenses may emerge during the course of the project and must be properly documented and justified.

Complexity of the reporting process

Reporting expenses in complex projects can be a tricky process:

- Expense approval: Any expense might require approval from different hierarchical levels or departments, such as finance or management.
- Verification and monitoring: Expenses must be reviewed to ensure they are legitimate, relevant to the project, and in compliance with company policies.
- Reporting: All expenses must be documented appropriately, with receipts, invoices, and other evidence justifying the amount spent.
- Reimbursement: Once approved, expenses must be reimbursed timely, per the procedures and timeframes established by the company.

Twproject: a one-stop solution for managing expense reports

In an age where digitization and automation are revolutionizing how businesses work, expense report management is no exception.

Manual expense management, relying on spreadsheets and folders full of receipts, has become obsolete and ineffective, especially in large businesses or complex projects.

Twproject stands out as a state-of-the-art solution, offering many features that make it a precious ally for businesses.

Here is a detailed analysis of its key features:

Multi-currency management: In an international context, companies must often manage expenses in different currencies. Twproject can manage expense reports in various currencies, ensuring accurate and up-to-date conversions and making reporting and approving costs incurred in foreign currencies easier.

Recurring and one-time expenses: Every company has recurring payments, such as subscriptions, but also one-time costs, such as travel expenses. Twproject allows both types to be managed effectively, enabling clear categorization and detailed tracking.

Personal expenses: An employee may incur an expense that does not fall under the company’s reimbursable items. Twproject also offers the option to record these expenses, ensuring a clear distinction between reimbursable and non-reimbursable expenses, thereby providing transparency and clarity in the reporting process.

Efficiency and accuracy: Managing expense reports with Twproject significantly reduces the time spent filling out, approving, and reimbursing expenses. It also minimizes the risk of human error, ensuring more accurate reporting.

Allocation to cost center: Whenever an expense report is inserted, it can be automatically associated with a specific cost center. This ensures that each expense is correctly recorded and allocated to the right project or department.

Accessibility and traceability: Expense information will become accessible in real-time from any device, allowing better tracking of expenses and greater transparency in the process.

Bottom line, Twproject is not just a project management tool but also a comprehensive solution for managing expense reports.

Its versatility and advanced features make it a great option for companies looking for an effective and reliable way to manage expenses.

How to use the cost center to simplify large projects

The cost center is a valuable tool for simplifying the financial management of projects.

Accurate and detailed cost management is critical to ensure sustainability and growth in any company. Elements such as raw material, unit cost, and other economic factors are essential to the success of any business.

But how can all these elements be successfully managed?

CONTENT

What is a cost center?
Why create a cost center map
6 tips on how to simplify large projects with the cost center
1. Get a cost management software
2. Clearly define your cost centers
3. Assign a specific budget
4. Monitor costs regularly
5. Build your team
6. Perform regular reviews
Managing cost centers with Twproject

The answer lies in the strategic use of cost centers, which provide comprehensive control over every financial aspect of your business.

Let’s examine how the cost center can help you simplify cost management for large projects.

What is a cost center?

A cost center is a department within a company that is in charge of certain costs.

Each single cost center is responsible for the costs involved in manufacturing products or providing services. It can be a production line, a department, or a subsidiary.

The cost center allows information to be collected regarding the costs of all project activities and components. This information can be used to:

Getting an overview of project costs
Identify cost areas where improvements can be made
Monitor cost trends over time

The various cost centers within a company can be associated with different products or services. Each product or service may have different related costs, which can be monitored and analyzed separately.

Why create a cost center map

Creating a cost center map is critical. The map helps to understand where costs occur and how they are distributed within the company.

Twproject is project management software that can streamline this process. It allows specific costs to be assigned to each cost center, providing in-depth insight into the allocation of costs within the company.

Notably, Twproject makes it possible to create a cost center map tailored to the company’s specific needs and defines cost centers based on the activities carried out by the company, products or services offered, or other criteria.

It also assigns costs to each cost center accurately and efficiently.

Information about costs provided by Twproject can be used for many different purposes, including:

Calculating the cost of products or services
Cost analysis
Cost management
Improving efficiency and productivity

Project managers can easily monitor direct and indirect costs, production time, and other crucial aspects. Twproject allows assigning and tracking costs for each project, significantly simplifying cost management and analysis, providing greater efficiency and control.

It offers a clear, detailed, and up-to-date view of costs incurred, helping companies optimize resources and improve efficiency.

6 tips on how to simplify large projects with the cost center

Here is a guide on using the cost center to streamline large tasks while ensuring efficiency and financial control.

1. Get a cost management software

Begin by getting a cost management software such as Twproject. This tool centralizes and automates cost center management, allowing you to monitor costs in real-time, assign specific budgets, and generate detailed reports on a one-stop platform. This will save you time and reduce the risk of human error.

2. Clearly define your cost centers

A clear definition of each cost center within the project is key. This step eliminates confusion, makes communication with your team, and ensures that everyone is on the same page about the project’s cost structure.

3. Assign a specific budget

Assigning a specific budget to each cost center also prevents overshoots and ensures that each cost center has the financial resources it needs to operate efficiently.

This step is crucial for maintaining financial control of the project and preventing unexpected expenses.

4. Monitor costs regularly

Regularly monitoring actual costs compared to projected costs for each cost center allows you to spot any discrepancies quickly and make timely corrections. This practice ensures that the project remains within budget and time constraints.

5. Build your team

Make sure your team is properly trained on effective cost center management. An informed team is invaluable for cost control and effective project management.

6. Perform regular reviews

Don’t forget to regularly review your cost centers to ensure they stay aligned with project objectives. This allows you to make adjustments based on project needs, ensuring that cost centers are always optimized.

By implementing these steps, cost center management will become a more seamless and manageable process, thus contributing significantly to the success of your large project.

By streamlining internal project management via Twproject, we were able to implement a very strong and effective cost control on the resources directly involved in account-based projects.

Read the interview with Temera and discover the advantages it gained from relying on cost management with Twproject

Managing cost centers with Twproject

Recently, we released a new Twproject version with improved cost center management features.

Here’s an overview of its new features:

Cost center propagation

This feature allows you to change the cost center of a task or resource and automatically propagate the change to all subordinate subtasks or resources. This way, you will not have to update each item manually.

For example, if you change a project’s cost center, all project tasks and resources will automatically be updated with the new cost center. However, if a task or resource has a different cost center from the project, it will remain unaffected.

Choosing the type of cost center

Before, cost centers were used for both projects and resources. This new feature allows you to manage cost centers for projects and resources separately. This allows you to choose whether to use cost centers for projects, resources, or both and have a clearer and more organized view of your data.

Cost center legacy

This feature automatically allows project add-on costs to inherit the cost center from their phase. This way, you can skip manually editing the cost centers for each add-on cost.

For example, if an additional cost is related to a project phase, the cost center of that extra cost will automatically inherit the phase’s cost center.

In short, these new features allow you to:

Save time since you won’t have to update cost centers manually;
Improve accuracy, preventing potential errors;
Have a more transparent and structured overview of your data.

Ultimately, the cost center is a powerful tool for streamlining the financial management of large projects. Properly using the cost center can improve cost transparency and efficiency, reduce risk, and improve the odds of achieving project success.

Remember, sound cost control is the foundation of successful project implementation.

7 project management books to read on vacation

Are you looking for project management books to read on vacation?

You are in the right place!

Summer is a great time to relax, replenish your energy, and read.

If you are passionate about project management or wish to improve your skills in this domain, there is no better time to dive into inspiring books.

This article will introduce you to 7 project management books that will provide new perspectives, strategies, and valuable tips for successfully tackling your professional projects.

CONTENT

7 project management books to read on vacation
1. The Lean Startup
2. Project Management for Dummies
3. Getting Things Done
4. Crucial Conversations
5. The Mythical Man-Month
6. Fiabe della buona notte per Project Manager
7. Project & Process Management

7 project management books to read on vacation

1. The Lean Startup

If you want to explore new approaches to managing projects and starting new entrepreneurial ventures, “The Lean Startup” by Eric Ries is an excellent choice.

This international bestseller offers a revolutionary methodology for launching new businesses efficiently and with minimal waste of resources.

In his book, Ries explains the idea of “Lean Startup,” where the principles of Lean thinking and Agile methodology are applied in the business world.

Through successful examples and real stories, the author explains how to quickly validate business hypotheses, gather customer feedback, and iterate continuously to develop successful products or services.

“The Lean Startup” offers an alternative to the traditional approach of detailed planning and long-term development, instead promoting speed and adaptability. This book is precious for those entrepreneurs and project managers working in uncertain and volatile environments, providing tools and strategies to manage and mitigate risks.

This book will inspire you to think innovatively, experience, and learn quickly from the market. You will be able to adapt to ever-changing customer needs with Lean startup principles and develop successful business projects.

2.Project Management for Dummies

One of the most popular and valuable books for project management newbies is “Project Management for Dummies” by Stanley E. Portny.

This practical and user-friendly guide offers a comprehensive introduction to project management, explaining the basic principles and best practices in a simple and understandable way.

Through real-world examples and practical advice, the book will help you master essential project management skills such as planning, executing, and controlling projects.

3. Getting Things Done

One of the most common challenges in project management is effectively managing time and tasks. “Getting Things Done” by David Allen is a book that offers a proven system for organizing work and maximizing productivity.

The GTD (Getting Things Done) method is based on principles such as accurate information gathering, clear action definition, and priority planning.

This book will guide you through implementing the GTD system, helping you create an organized environment and effectively manage your personal and business-related activities.

By creating action lists, managing projects, and adopting productive habits, you can overcome daily challenges with greater efficiency and peace of mind.

It is also helpful for those wishing to develop more efficient work habits and reduce stress from poor time management.

4. Crucial Conversations

Difficult conversations are inevitable in a project management environment.

“Crucial Conversations” by Kerry Patterson, Joseph Grenny, Ron McMillan, and Al Switzler is a must-have guide to dealing with critical discussions constructively and effectively.

By reading this book, you will gain access to practical tools that will help you effectively manage conflict, solve problems, and communicate clearly and empathetically.

Additionally, you will learn how to establish an open and conducive environment for dialogue and maintain a level head even in the most intricate of situations.

5. The Mythical Man-Month

“The Mythical Man-Month” by Frederick P. Brooks Jr. is aproject management classic that addresses the challenges of coordinating and managing resources in complex projects.

This iconic book provides a deep understanding of the problems that occur in large projects and presents Brooks’ laws and the concept of “adding people to a late project.”

By reading this book, you will acquire a unique standpoint on managing complex projects and the dynamics that can affect them.

6. Fiabe della buona notte per Project Manager

If you want a more casual yet entertaining and thought-provoking read, “Fiabe della buona notte per Project Manager” by Luigi Russo is the perfect book.

In this original book, Russo uses the format of fairy tales to present typical project management situations and dynamics allegorically.

Each fairy tale offers a valuable lesson and clever humor to make reading more enjoyable. This book is an excellent choice for relaxing under the umbrella, chuckling, and, at the same time, contemplating the challenges of project management.

Remember that reading does not always have to be serious and challenging, and this book perfectly demonstrates how you can learn while having fun.

7. Project & Process Management

If you are looking for a comprehensive project and process management guide, you cannot miss “Project & Process Management” by Stefano Setti.

This book provides an integrated view of both disciplines, offering a broad overview of fundamental principles, methodologies, and tools for project and business process management.

Thanks to his extensive experience in this area, Setti provides practical approaches and best practices for planning, executing, and controlling projects and designing, optimizing, and monitoring business processes.

Through concrete examples and case studies, the book will guide you in understanding the interactions between projects and processes and provide tools to maximize the efficiency and effectiveness of business activities.

“Project & Process Management” is an in-depth yet user-friendly text aimed at professionals who wish to gain a holistic and integrated view of project and process management.

Whether you are a project manager or a process manager, this book will provide you with a solid foundation of knowledge to meet the corporate world’s challenges.

From the introduction to fundamental concepts to managing critical conversations and time management, these books will provide valuable knowledge to tackle your professional projects successfully.

Enjoy your reading!

Team performance domain: what’s new PMBoK 7

Team Performance Domain is one of the 8 Project Performance Domains introduced in PMBOK’s seventh edition.

These replaced the 10 Knowledge Areas featured in the previous Project Management Body of Knowledge edition.

This article will explore what this is all about and what this change implies for project management.

CONTENT INDEX

Project Performance Domain: what are they?
Team Performance Domain: what is it about?
Expected results of the Performance Domain Team

Project Performance Domain: what are they?

As mentioned above, the 10 Knowledge Areas of the former PMBOK have been replaced in the seventh edition by the 8 Project Performance Domains.

These are referred to as groups of interrelated activities critical to the effective implementation of a project.

As opposed to the knowledge areas of the sixth edition, performance domains are designed to span the entire life cycle of a project and focus less on rigid processes and more on the practices and behaviors that lead to desired outcomes.

The 8 project performance domains were developed to ensure project success and include:

Stakeholder
Team
Development Approach & Life Cycle
Planning
Project Work
Delivery
Measurement
Uncertainty

Therefore, they encompass all aspects of the project, from team management to planning, process control, and stakeholder management.

The most significant difference between PMBOK’s sixth and seventh editions is that the focus has shifted from technical processes and tools to more general principles.

The seventh edition focuses more on the fundamental concepts of project management instead of focusing only on specific technical processes and tools.

This makes the guide more accessible and usable to a broader audience, including those without technical or specialized training.

Team Performance Domain: what is it about?

Now let’s take a look specifically at the Team Performance Domain, or team performance domain, a segment of the PMBOK.

In particular, three main aspects are covered within this domain:

1. Project team and how it works

2. Team Management

3. Leadership skills

The Team Performance Domain is about the support, organization, management, leadership, and culture of the individuals responsible for producing project results.

This entails defining the culture and environment that enable a diverse mix of individuals to evolve into a high-performance project team.

This includes identifying the activities necessary to promote the development of the project team and fostering leadership behaviors by all team members.

The project team generates value for the organization by producing project deliverables.

As we discussed earlier, performance domains are a new concept introduced by PMBOK 7 to replace knowledge areas.

Likewise, process groups have been replaced by project management principles.

The Team Performance Domain focuses on creating a high-performance team, effective team coaching, raising the level of operations, creating collaborative team spaces, and monitoring and measuring their performance.

Certain processes and actions are put in place to achieve the planned goals of this performance domain.

In PMBOK 7, it is assumed that if a team leader successfully executes all the activities of the performance domain according to the principles outlined here, the result will be a high-performing team.

Among some factors that contribute to an effective team are:

Open communication: an open environment fosters productive meetings, problem-solving, the birth of new ideas, etc.;
Shared understanding: what the project will create is clear to everyone
Shared ownership: the more invested team members feel in the project results, the more motivated they will be in their work;
Trust: employees who trust each other work together more effectively;
Collaboration: collaborative teams generate more innovative ideas;
Adaptability: a better-performing team can adapt to different environments and situations;
Resilience: in the event of a problem, the team can recover quickly and continue their work;
Empowerment: those who can make decisions independently without being micro-managed all the time achieve better results;
Recognition: recognizing a job well done motivates team members to keep performance high.

The project manager must keep a respectful, collaborative, and non-judgmental environment that allows the team to thrive and achieve maximum return on performance.

Expected results of the Performance Domain Team

Historically, responsibility for a project was always assigned to a single person, typically the project manager, who was in charge of the project’s success (or failure).

In contrast, the project team leader can delegate responsibility to team members and be held accountable for the work.

However, when we look at how some organizations have been structured in recent decades, sometimes, responsibility for a project, product, or service has been assigned to more than one person.

The PMBOK, in its chapter on the Team Performance Domain, refers to this as shared ownership.

This means there are contexts in which work results are assigned to more than one person or team.

This may be the case with a high-performance team that is stable, empowered, and self-organized.

Stable teams become a high-performance teams by progressing through four stages:

Training: team members work together and begin to get to know each other,
Assault: conflict and stress resolution,
Standards: at this stage, employees begin to understand their colleagues’ strengths and can support each other,
Exhibition: When the team reaches its peak performance.

The time for team growth in the performance stage may depend on different variables and cannot be predetermined.

However, when such a high-performing team is achieved, an organization can assign employees to a project and let them self-organize to decide their way of working.

They will be free to choose and evolve their processes and practices to implement within their project and set up operations based on the organization’s policy.

To put it another way, the organization can enable a high-performing team to be responsible for the work and own the organization’s results.

The self-organization of the high-performance team improves the efficiency and effectiveness of the work accomplished and the satisfaction of team members. They feel valued and involved in the project, thus increasing their sense of ownership and long-term involvement with the organization.

Twproject helps teams achieve the best possible results by providing them with the right tools to manage work in an agile and productive way.

New Twproject Release 7.1.004 – All types of Gantt dependencies

After months of study and implementation we are really happy to announce that a new version of Twproject has been released and it includes, among other optimizations, a particular step forward on the use of the Gantt chart.

The Gantt developed by Twproject is undoubtedly one of the best on the current market in terms of flexibility and interaction with other pages in the application. It is also one of the few that allows you to do all sorts of tests on project duration and dependencies, thus proving to be a useful tool not only when sharing timelines but also in the process of studying them.

As always, the new release will be for the immediate benefit of all our customers, who can start using the new features right away!

Dependencies in the Gantt

According to definition, in the context of project management, “dependency” is defined as the relationship between two activities in a project or between an activity and a milestone (a precise point that defines the beginning or end of a relevant phase).

Dependencies thus allow one phase to be linked to the next in a way that indicates that they are consequential.

Introduction of new types of dependencies in the Gantt

Until now in Twproject, the dependencies between project phases that the user could enter were of one type, the so-called classic Finish to start (FS). This means that activity A must finish before activity B starts, or in other words, activity B cannot start before A is finished.

But as we delved deeper into this topic and also through feedback from our clients, we realized that limiting the possible relationships that exist between the phases of a project to this classic type of dependency was reductive. In fact, there are additional relationships that can develop between the activities to be performed and that have been theorized in the principles of project management. Let us look at them in detail:

The Finish to finish (FF) relationship type implies that activity B cannot finish before A is also finished. For example, if activity B is the completion of writing a book and activity A is the writing of the last chapter, it becomes clear that A must necessarily finish for B to be considered finished as well.

Furthermore, there is the case that a certain activity cannot begin before another activity has in turn begun, and in this case the relationship will be Start to Start (SS). A classic example is the project management activity (B) of a project that cannot start before the project itself (A) begins.

Finally, a very specific case is the last type of relationship called Start to finish (SF), which is probably the most complex to understand and applies only in certain contexts. In this case activity A must start before B finishes, or in other words B cannot finish until A is started. Such a scenario may arise, for example, during shift change in a manufacturing plant whose machinery needs constant monitoring. The initial shift (A) cannot be said to have ended unless the next shift (B) has already started, on pain of putting the plant at risk.

We are therefore overjoyed to announce that in the new release of Twproject we have introduced the ability to assign all of the above types of dependencies to project phases.

After creating the dependency between two phases, you can possibly change the default value represented by the FS dependency and select another type of relationship.

The application of the concept of “elasticity”

Another important paradigm shift, which makes us very proud of our work, is that we have made all the newly added dependencies “elastic.”

Indeed, if until now the assignment of a dependency established the linear succession of one activity after another, we know well that in the real world the downtimes.

That is why Twproject decided to allow the user to freely manage this elasticity.

So from now on when you enter a dependency it will be saved at first with the default FS hard type. But this classic “hard” dependency can be converted into “elastic” and with any type of relationship.

This means that two interdependent activities may also not be chronologically consequential and move apart, leaving any gaps between them, or overlap for a time, as long as the logic of chosen dependence is respected.

This is a big change in terms of sticking to the facts when carrying out a concrete project and reinforces the concept of delegation that is central in Twproject.

Imagine a project tree where a Project Manager (PM) is assigned for the whole project and then a specific one for each phase, one for the analysis(PMA), design(PMG) and production(PMD) phase, these phases are linked by an FS dependency.

The PM can define a total project duration and assign a specific duration to the phases, thanks to the elastic dependencies, he can, while maintaining the logic of the dependencies, create a lag between the phases and therefore leave to PMA, PMG and PMD great freedom of action (moving end and start data) without affecting the overall dates!

This was not possible before, since a postponement of an end date, for example of the analysis phase, would necessarily have led to a postponement of the consequent phases, phases over which PMA has no right.

Other news

But it doesn’t end there. With this release Twproject has made really a lot of improvements to the system, a full list of which you can find on the changelog page.

Here’s a sampling of them:

Revenues: a useful tool for turning an estimated value into actual revenue has been introduced to further facilitate the entry of these items.

Worklogs: filters by ToDo and by project have been added to the worklog analysis sheet, and in addition a column with the sum of total worklogs on a phase or project has been added on the timesheet.

Role security: we have made permissions on task management even more secure in relation to cost and form entry.

Agenda: various improvements have been made to the agenda, including the ability to view the duration of ToDo’s, and in addition, events entered in the agenda have been integrated into a dedicated row on the ToDo and resource planner.

So, don’t waste any time and go find out now how much these latest innovations from Twproject will benefit the efficiency of your work!

All clients using Twproject on the cloud will get the update automatically in the coming days, while those who have Twproject installed on their own servers can find the new installers here.

Women quota in project management: what are the challenges in 2023?

Women share in Project Management is a topic we hold close to our hearts.

Our company is committed to gender equality, having a fair proportion of men and women.

The project manager role is one of the most important and fast-growing occupations worldwide, and women are becoming increasingly present in this field.

CONTENT

Statistics on women quota in project management
Challenges women face in project management
Efforts to promote women’s share in project management

In 2023, the project management industry will keep growing, and women have an increasingly important role to play in it.

Yet despite the increase in women in project management, much work must be done to ensure that women are represented equally in this profession.

In this article, we will explore the status of women in project management in 2023, analyzing current statistics and the challenges they still face.

Statistics on women quota in project management

According to the International Labor Organization (ILO), the female share in the global workforce is below 47%, compared to 72% for men. This inequality negatively impacts project teams, as diverse teams are essential for increasing value.

Still, the gender gap in project management may be the key to solving a crisis that organizations face.

The COVID-19 pandemic has triggered global workforce disruptions, affecting demand for project management-oriented jobs.

A Project Management Institute (PMI) research estimates that 25 million new project professionals will be needed by 2030.

In 2022, PMI surveyed more than 1,900 female project professionals to better understand the current status of women in project management and identify opportunities for both female workers and organizations.

The global overview shows that male project managers outnumber their female counterparts worldwide and in every industry. Women earn less than men and are slightly less likely to hold a certification or degree in project management.

Women are more likely to report using agile and hybrid approaches, working in organizations using advanced technologies, and valuing higher power skills.

Furthermore, according to PMI, in 2021, only 36% of project managers worldwide were women. This is a 5% increase from 2015, but much work must be done to close the gender gap in this domain.

However, there are some regions of the world where women are better represented in project management. For example, 49% of project managers in Latin America are women, and in Europe, 40 %. However, in the Middle East and Africa, only 17% of project managers are women.

Challenges women face in project management

Although progress has been made in increasing women’s inclusion in project management, women still face many challenges in this field.

One of the main hurdles is gender discrimination. Many employers still prefer to hire male project managers over women, even if they possess the same experience and skills.

Women working in this industry also often face a hostile and sexist work environment. They may be subjected to offensive comments or inappropriate behavior, which can be a challenging experience to deal with.

Furthermore, project management women can face challenges balancing their work and private lives. They are often seen as primarily responsible for childcare and household management, making balancing career and family demands difficult.

Efforts to promote women’s share in project management

There are many efforts currently taking place to promote women in project management. For example, many organizations are promoting diversity and inclusion in this field by adopting policies and programs to increase women’s quota in leadership roles.

Also, many organizations offer training and mentoring programs for women who wish to pursue a career in project management. These programs focus on developing skills for women and providing them with the knowledge and expertise they need to succeed in this industry.

The bottom line is that project management is a fast-growing profession, and women are becoming increasingly present. However, there is still much work to be done to ensure that women are represented equally in project management and can overcome the challenges they face.

We will continue to work to promote gender equality in this domain because we know that women’s share in project management is critical to the success of this profession.

PMBoK 7 vs. PMBoK 6: Evolutions, Challenges, and Jokes for the Modern Project Manager

CONTENT

PMBoK 7 vs. PMBoK 6: introduction to the differences
1.Basic principles
2.Performance Domains
3.Hybrid and agile approaches
Project Manager Challenges in Consideration of PMBoK 7
1.Adapting to a more flexible and agile approach
2.Managing stakeholder expectations
3.Focusing on value creation
4.Managing uncertainty and risk
5.Developing personal skills and leadership
5 practical tips for tackling new challenges in Project Management
1.Regular training
2.Networking and collaboration
3.Adopting an experimental approach
4.Reflecting and learning from experience
5.Balancing strictness and flexibility

My fellow Project Managers, welcome to the mightiest match of this century: PMBoK 7 vs. PMBoK 6!

Jokes aside, the world of project management is constantly evolving, and as professionals in the field, it is paramount to stay up-to-date on the latest trends and methodologies.

In this article, we will explore the differences between PMBoK 6 and PMBoK 7, highlighting the evolutions and new challenges that Project Managers face given these changes.

Before we begin, here’s a joke: “The project manager is like a juggler who must keep time, cost, and quality in the air. But! All balls are made of rubber, except for the quality ball, which is made of glass!”

Now that we’ve eased the mood let’s cut to the chase.

PMBoK 7 vs. PMBoK 6: introduction to the differences

1. Basic principles

PMBoK 6 is based on 10 knowledge areas and 49 processes, constituting a fairly prescriptive and linear approach to project management. This approach worked for many years but showed its limitations when applied to complex and adaptive projects.

PMBoK 7 introduces a more flexible and agile approach based on 12 core principles.

These principles, which apply to any type of project and industry, help project managers better adapt to the challenges and changes during project development.

2. Performance Domains

While PMBoK 6 focuses on knowledge areas, PMBoK 7 introduces the concept of Performance Domains, namely 8 performance areas that cover the different dimensions of a project. These domains are:

These Performance Domains cover critical aspects of project management, offering a more holistic and integrated view of the project management process. As a result, project managers can focus on value creation and adaptability rather than following a strict, prescriptive approach.

3. Hybrid and agile approaches

PMBoK 6 introduced a few Agile concepts, but PMBoK 7 takes it further, stressing the importance of hybrid and Agile approaches in modern project management.

This reflects the growing need for flexibility and adaptability in organizations that manage increasingly complex and uncertain projects.

Project Manager Challenges in Consideration of PMBoK 7

1. Adapting to a more flexible and agile approach

One of the main challenges for project managers in the transition from PMBoK 6 to PMBoK 7 is adapting to a more flexible and agile approach to project management.

This requires shifting away from old habits and prescriptive ways of working to embrace new techniques and tools that promote adaptability and speed in response to change.

2. Managing stakeholder expectations

As Performance Domains are introduced, project managers must be able to communicate effectively with stakeholders and manage their expectations throughout the project life cycle.

This can be challenging, as different stakeholders may have other goals and priorities. It is, therefore, essential to establish open and constructive communication with all stakeholders to ensure project success.

3. Focusing on value creation

PMBoK 7 emphasizes value creation more than PMBoK 6. Project managers must focus on the project’s value to the business, stakeholders, and customers rather than merely completing tasks according to a set plan.

This requires a results-oriented mindset and continuous watch for opportunities to improve and optimize resources.

4. Managing uncertainty and risk

PMBoK 7 acknowledges the importance of managing uncertainty and risk in projects. Project managers must be prepared to address unexpected challenges and adapt their plans accordingly.

This requires a proactive approach to risk management, early identification of threats and opportunities, and the skill to make quick and informed decisions to mitigate negative impacts.

5. Developing personal skills and leadership

Shifting to PMBoK 7 also requires the development of project managers’ personal and leadership skills. Besides technical skills, professionals must hone their communication, negotiation, time management, and conflict resolution skills.

Also, they must be able to motivate and lead project teams toward achieving goals by leveraging team members’ diverse skills and strengths.

5 practical tips for tackling new challenges in Project Management

Now that we’ve outlined some of the major challenges facing project managers as they transition from PMBoK 6 to PMBoK 7, here are some practical tips to help you overcome them:

1. Regular training

Keeping your skills up-to-date is critical to facing new challenges in project management.

Attend training, seminars, and workshops, and strive to learn from peers and industry leaders. Also, it is important to keep abreast of the latest trends, tools, and best practices through blogs, podcasts, books, and articles.

2. Networking and collaboration

Nurture your professional networks by attending industry events, conferences, and online forums.

Sharing experiences and knowledge with other project managers can be precious and will help you better understand how to apply PMBoK 7 in your day-to-day work.

3. Adopting an experimental approach

Feel free to test new methods and techniques in your work. Adopting PMBoK 7 requires a degree of openness to change and experimentation.

Bear in mind not all solutions work for every project or scenario. Be ready to test different strategies and adapt them to your project’s needs.

4. Reflecting and learning from experience

Learning from past experiences and using these lessons to improve your project management skills and processes is crucial. Take some time to reflect on your experiences and what you learned during your transition from PMBoK 6 to PMBoK 7.

Examine what worked and could be improved, and use this information to guide your future decisions.

5. Balancing strictness and flexibility

Lastly, finding the right balance between sticking to PMBoK 7 principles and practices and being flexible enough to manage complex and dynamic projects is essential.

Keep sight of your primary goal: to create value for stakeholders and the organization through effective and adaptable project management.

The transition from PMBoK 6 to PMBoK 7 brings a significant challenge for project managers, but it also brings an opportunity to improve and innovate in how we manage projects.

By adopting a more flexible, agile, and value-driven approach, project management professionals can successfully meet the challenges of our ever-changing world.

Bear in mind, however, that a good project manager is always open to some ironic joke: “ If project management were a game, it would be the game of musical chairs–where everyone tries to find their place before the music stops!“

Now that you know the differences between PMBoK 6 and PMBoK 7 and are aware of the challenges ahead, you are ready to conquer the world of project management and guide your projects to success.

Godspeed, and may the power of PMBoK be with you!

7 tips to boost work productivity

CONTENT

7 tips to increase work productivity
1. Focus on one activity at a timet
2. Take regular breaks
3. Focus on the most important tasks first
4. Set small goals
5. Delegate some tasks
6. Boost work productivity: use the tomato technique
7. No meetings

Boosting your team’s work productivity is no impossible feat, but it does require practice and some good tactics.

The productivity of the working group in project management depends on the organization of work and on the use of techniques and tools for managing activities and time.

Especially if your team works from home, you are in need of such software. One of these effective tools is software for monitoring your remote team. Since employee wellbeing has a great impact on the work process and result, you need to use a tool that will boost worker performance productivity thanks to monitoring their wellbeing and work process. This way both your team and your business will be pleased and will bring great results

So, in this article we will take a look at 7 simple strategies to boost work productivity.

7 tips to increase work productivity

1. Focus on one activity at a time

When we focus on more than one task at a time, we tend to waste precious time as we switch from one task to another.

This can lead to some of the tasks needing to be completed or accomplished with inferior quality.

Many people think multitasking is the best technique, yet while this may seem productive, it rarely delivers the best results.

By focusing on one task at a time, their will complete it with a higher standard and quicker, allowing you to proceed to your next task effortlessly.

2. Take regular breaks

It may sound weird to suggest taking breaks regarding work productivity, but regular breaks help reduce stress and boost productivity.

Taking a break may seem like a waste of time, especially in the event of a close deadline.

However, neglecting to treat yourself to a few minutes of relaxation, can affect your overall productivity by inducing fatigue or exhaustion, thus hurting progress.

It is good to plan short breaks, 15 minutes every two hours, during the workday.

This will allow you to replenish your stamina, clear your mind and prepare for your next task.

3. Focus on the most important tasks first

You can stay more focused by focusing on the most challenging and time-consuming tasks before anything else.

It can be tempting to shy away from difficult or time-consuming tasks and focus on easy wins.

However, completing the most challenging projects early on can increase your motivation and focus for the rest of the day.

So learn to prioritize these most important tasks early in your workday or generally when you are most alert and active.

Some of us may work best in the morning, while others peak after lunch.

Knowing when you are most productive and then planning your daily schedule to make the most of these peak times is a great way to increase productivity.

4. Set small goals

Large tasks or projects can be somewhat daunting, and we often overestimate how long it will take to accomplish them.

A powerful tip is to split tasks into manageable, bite-sized milestones that pile up until project completion.

For example, emptying your inbox by answering e-mails during the day or filing required documents are small daily goals that every team member can set and achieve during the workweek.

Similarly, you can use these short goals as milestones to measure your progress toward a larger goal.

5. Delegate some tasks

Delegating does not involve offloading work you don’t want to do, but rather it is about ensuring that everyone is working on the tasks that best match their skills and availability.

As project manager, consider using delegation methods to split tasks among your team members.

Delegating some tasks can also allow you to focus on other duties that might be specifically assigned to you.

For example, if you have e-mails that you need to get back to, but a colleague can provide the same attention to detail, consider delegating the task to them. At the same time, you focus on relevant assignments that no one else can or is authorized to undertake.

A common mistake that undermines productivity is that we often take on work beyond our assignment or that others can do much more quickly.

6. Boost work productivity: use the tomato technique

Being more productive at work can depend on time management, and the “tomato technique” is a strategy you may find helpful in managing your time more efficiently.

Similar to scheduling breaks, the tomato technique involves using a timer, where you spend 25 minutes on a task.

During this time you focus only on the activity until the timer stops.

Then there is a five-minute break before starting with the new 25-minute block.

This strategy can be effective because it helps improve concentration by providing more time for focused, uninterrupted work with the promise of being able to take a break as soon as the timer sounds.

7. No meetings

Most meetings are known as big-time wasters, yet the habit of continuing to arrange them without asking questions still prevails.

Before organizing or confirming attendance at an upcoming meeting, ask yourself whether you can achieve the same goals through other channels, such as e-mail, phone call, etc.

And if you must hold or attend a meeting at all costs, there is evidence that stand-up meetings can lead to increased group enthusiasm, decreased territoriality, and better performance.

Another suggestion based on a study conducted by the Massachusetts Institute of Technology (MIT) is to have three days a week completely meeting-free.

Work productivity in these cases increased by 73 percent, worker satisfaction increased by 65 percent, and employee stress levels decreased by 57 percent.

Meetings are undoubtedly crucial for setting goals and gauging the organization’s performance.

However, daily meetings cause apathy, especially when scheduled unannounced, without preparation, and about trivial matters.

Finally, allow yourself and your team to apply these tips and use project management tools like Twproject to boost team work productivity and maximize professional and personal goals.

Twproject 7.1.000 – Introduction of mentions and other improvements

Communication is an essential requirement within a team; that’s why in Twproject you can find many different features having this goal.

Today we added an brand new one: the mentions!

Twproject 7.1.000 includes also several security fixes and improvements.

Mentions are now available in Twproject

Nowadays, using constantly messaging applications, we got used to mentions, an efficient way to refer directly to one or more people within a larger group.
Their purpose in Twproject is therefore to simplify the interactions and dialogue between the members of a work group, improving communication and alerting people when something requires their attention.

But how do they work and where?

People can be mentioned:

in chat messaging
in project/phase updates
in ToDos comments
in worklog action (text)

If you aim to mention someone in any of these contexts, insert the @ character and start typing the name of the person. Select him with the mouse from the list and repeat this step for all the people you want to quote.
Obviously, the more you type the more refined the search result will be.
Save or send the message and that’s it.

The person mentioned will receive one or more notifications, according to the channels he has enabled in his user options tab (email, digest, sticky note or application log).

The new widget “My mentions” is another way to receive notifications. It displays any quotes you receive in real time.
It can be placed in any dashboard.

But what if an user does not activate any notification channels and does not insert the widget?

No problem at all!
Once mentioned, a counter appears in the recipient’s menu and it disappears only once the user has read the message.

Finally, it is worth highlighting three aspects:

in chat messages only people who are part of the chat itself can be mentioned. On the other hand, in other interfaces, it is possible to mention all the persons you have permission to see, therefore a wider set
if a text containing a mention is modified or deleted, the person previously quoted will not be notified.
if someone is quoted in a context he can not read (for example a project he’s not assigned to), he will see only the text within which he was mentioned.

Mentions are active in all Twproject plans!

Security fixes

Within this realease, Twproject has been deeply tested to align it with the directives promulgated by the foundation “Open Web Application Security Project” (https://owasp.org). Its goal is to create guidelines, tools and methodologies to improve the security of software applications.

This makes the adoption of Twproject accompliant to Public Administrations prerequisites.

https://cloudsecurityalliance.org/star/registry/twproject-srl/services/twproject/

And many other new implementations

Dropdown menus: they have been redesigned so as to make easier and more immediate the identification of what is sought among people and tasks.
The search for people returns a list to which have been added personal avatar and company/department.

The search for projects/phases shows the status of the task, its code and ancestors tree.

ToDos: it is now possible to assign a todo to a department so that it can be seen and performed by any of its members.

Hints: new contextual tips and videos have been added.

Task public page: todos list has been splitted into as many tabs as todo types.
Thus reading is much easier!

But all this stuff is just a short excerpt of what you can find in Twproject 7.1.000!

For the complete list of all the features, please consult the changelog!

How important time management is for better productivity

Good time management skills can help in every area of people’s lives.

CONTENT

What is time management?
Benefits of time management
1. Less stress
2. Better work-life balance
3. Improved concentration
4. Less procrastination
5. Increased energy levels
6. Improved work quality
7. More opportunities
8. Better work image
7 tips for successful time management
1. Use project management software
2. Plan
3. Prioritize
4. Avoid multitasking
5. Avoid distractions
6. Plan breaks
7. Find the most productive hours

Especially when it comes to working, time management is vital to help better prioritize and improve productivity.

Managing time effectively helps you work smarter, do more in less time, and exploit more opportunities.

This article explores how important time management is for better productivity.

What is time management?

Time management refers to organizing and managing your hours of the day.

Effective time management is all about taking control of your time and energy while achieving better results without excessive stress.

When working by better organizing your time, you can achieve better results faster and with less effort.

Critical time management skills include prioritization, goal setting, and delegation.

Benefits of time management

Good time management comes with several benefits to increasing productivity. Here are the most important ones:

1. Less stress

Managing time effectively cuts stress levels and anxiety by helping one become more focused and confident.

Good time management involves meeting tight deadlines by planning work as best as possible without feeling overwhelmed.

2. Better work-life balance

One of the most fantastic perks of time management is a better work-life balance.

Those who successfully achieve a good balance will be more productive at work and have more time to spend on personal relationships.

This is because good time management ensures that efforts focus on the biggest priorities.

3. Improved concentration

Effective time management boosts concentration and, by extension, improves productivity.

Increased concentration allows you to find more opportunities and spend more time on what matters.

4. Less procrastination

Procrastination happens when you do not manage your time effectively.

It is easy to get distracted when you are not focused and do not have your goals clearly in mind.

Good time management skills ensure having control over your workload and, therefore, help stop procrastination.

5. Increased energy levels

Having effective time management skills increases energy and motivation levels.

Good time managers schedule their activities and take regular breaks during the day so they do not feel overwhelmed, and their concentration levels remain high.

6. Improved work quality

Having good time management skills helps avoid working extended overtime to meet a deadline.

Poor rest and insufficient or low-quality sleep can interfere not only in your work domain but also your daily life.

Time management, therefore, allows you to manage activities better while spending the right amount of time for rest.

Thus, completed work will be of higher quality than a rushed accomplishment.

7. More opportunities

One of the hidden dangers of poor time management is that it kills your opportunities to expand your horizons and try new things.

If you spend your life rushing from one task to another, you will never get to explore different opportunities.

With good time management skills, you will be able to have more free time that can be spent discovering new ideas.

8. Better work image

Rather than going with the flow, by having good time management skills, you can control your life and take the lead at work.

With enough quality rest and sleep, you will be better positioned to make thoughtful and meaningful decisions at the office.

Other people will notice, and this will increase career and promotion opportunities.

7 tips for successful time management

Anyone can learn time management and become proficient in organizing their tasks effectively.

Here are some tips:

1. Use project management software

Smart time management is a must for project managers and teams dealing with multiple tasks simultaneously.

Lacking good software di project management that allows time tracking puts everyone at a significant disadvantage.

On the other hand, using a tool like TWproject, makes it possible to keep abreast of the schedule and deliver work within set deadlines without sacrificing quality. You might also be interested in this article, where we compared what we consider the best Project Management software.

2. Plan

Planning plays a big role in time management since both go hand in hand.

You can, in fact, make the most of your time only when it is well-planned.

When it comes to planning, you do not need to follow a strict routine; instead, it means making smarter decisions to know the right time to accomplish specific activities.

3. Prioritize

Prioritizing daily activities is key to successful time management.

Focusing on your priorities is important to achieve your goals at work.

Categorization will help focus on what needs to get done before everything else.

4. Avoid multitasking

Multitasking is one of the most time-consuming activities ever.

The best way to make use of time is to choose one thing and accomplish it before moving on to the next according to your priorities.

This way, you can focus more, reduce distractions, and make fewer mistakes.

5. Avoid distractions

In our daily lives, distractions cost us many precious hours in a day.

Mobile phones, chatty coworkers, and social media are some ordinary time wasters at work.

To avoid allowing these distractions to become dominant, it is best to cut them out completely.

To do so, it is best to determine which disruptive factors are blocking productivity and set a fixed time of day allocated to them.

6. Plan breaks

Regular breaks while working is an efficient way to remain productive throughout the day.

However, you can make the opposite mistake by taking too many breaks.

That is why it is important to schedule them during your workday: a short walk, listening to music, stretching, etc. all of these activities allow you to relax and return to work with more energy.

7. Find the most productive hours

Several studies show that our day is driven by cycles that affect how alert and motivated we are, which vary from person to person.

For example, someone might be at their peak early in the morning, while a colleague might be more focused during the afternoon.

So the trick for good time management is to match the highest priority work to the highest productivity hours.

It is easy to see that starting to improve time management skills can establish a positive cycle.

By optimizing task organization, work quality will increase, opportunities will become more evident, free time will increase, and people will generally feel more energized and happier.

Effective time management reduces overload and helps you prioritize, ensuring that you work smarter and achieve goals faster.

Make or buy? How important the Project Manager is in decision making

“Make or buy” is one of the strategic choices that project managers face in project management.

CONTENT

Make or buy: 6 factors of decision making
1. Existing skills
2. Potential skills
3. Revision time
4. Cost evaluation
5. Quality comparison
6. Emotional reasons
Make or buy analysis: project manager’s role
Make or buy: strategic and operational levels

As you can imagine, this is not an easy choice. Many factors influence this decision, and it is a critical choice. It is crucial because it determines the sourcing of what’s needed to achieve your goals, affecting planning and the cost of the whole project.

There are pros and cons to doing both, but how do you decide which is the right decision to make? Let’s take a look at it in this article.

Make or buy: 6 factors of decision making

Let’s start from the beginning. When should a make-or-buy decision be made? These are decisions that need to be made when a company is looking for a new product line, is running out of suppliers, or is decreasing production capacity.

In these cases, a make-or-buy analysis will be conducted to determine if in-house production or buying the product from third parties will help the company achieve its goal.

Manufacturing companies face this kind of dilemma quite often. The same, however, also applies to other types of businesses, such as those that manage technologies such as software and customer service.

Here are the 6 elements that come into play in the decision:

1. Existing skills

What are the skills available within your team? Are these the right ones to produce the item in-house?

The first step is to consider what kind of knowledge you possess in-house and whether that knowledge is sufficient to produce the sought-after item.

For example, a business might have experienced software developers, but none of them might have the right set of skills to build a new system module.

In this case, relying on a third-party supplier would become imperative.

2. Potential skills

What if the skills are not available within the team? How much would it cost to acquire them? And how long would it take?

And again, would these new skills would they align with the company’s business line?

If the answer is yes, you can move on to make further assessments:

what training courses are available?
how much do they cost?
these courses would actually give employees everything they need to develop the required item?

3. Revision time

How long would it take to deliver this work in-house? Do you have enough time to do it? In this case, software that allows you to measure work time could come in handy.

Should you proceed, what activities would team members be forced to reschedule if they took on this task?

This last question is a crucial one to ask. Unfortunately, it is often completely forgotten. You might be interested in this article about Team workloads.

You may indeed have the right mix of skills and experience to take on the delivery of this work, but that means those resources will not be working on something else.

Therefore, it becomes critical to weigh how important this “something else” is concerning the project.

It is worth taking the time to answer this question and getting any stakeholders involved if necessary.

Once the analysis is done, you can compare it with the timelines proposed by your suppliers.

4. Cost evaluation

This point is straightforward: you must compare the cost of work carried out internally with the cost of work done externally.

This should not be a superficial estimate. External suppliers might be more expensive if taxes and sourcing fees are included that do not figure in the case of using in-house resources.

However, situations may vary widely from project to project and industry to industry.

5. Quality comparison

The fifth step is to compare the quality of what could be produced in-house with the supplier’s samples.

An outside field expert could ensure a higher quality product, but this is not always the case.

6. Emotional reasons

This reason tends to be overlooked when analyzing make-or-buy decisions.

A business may decide to make a product or offer a service based on emotional responses such as pride or contempt instead of following logical reasoning.

Emotionality in making such a choice could be lethal.

Make or buy analysis: project manager’s role

Make or buy analysis is one of those evaluations done by project managers, possibly with the support of other relevant parties.

This type of analysis is performed at two levels: strategic and operational.

Make or buy: strategic and operational levels

The strategic perspective is more long-term and more extensive than the operational perspective.

Factors such as competition, government regulations, key expertise, and the current market scenario impact strategic make-or-buy decisions.

At the operational level, factors may come in the form of lower costs, better quality, unreliable suppliers, or even pride.

Sometimes a product may be challenging to produce or may require a lot of expertise to be created.

Such products are not likely to have many suppliers, and it might be advisable to produce them in-house in such a scenario.

Sometimes, there may be a special order, and an item may only be needed in small quantities.

Instead of manufacturing the product, it is best to buy it in these situations.

A make-or-buy analysis allows you to reduce costs and increase capital investment. This is true regardless of whether you decide to manufacture in-house or outsource to an external supplier.

It can also serve as a source of competitive advantage. An organization can increase its value to customers and shareholders through its core services and expertise.

As a final point, the make-or-buy decision should be made with caution. A make-or-buy decision should be made considering the organization’s core competencies, short-term benefits, and long-term strategic planning.

Both solutions come with pros and cons. However, generally, companies tend to outsource functions where they lack core competency or when the cost of sourcing components from external suppliers is significantly lower.

Time reporting: clarity and straightforwardness thanks to a software

Time reporting is a critical component of project management.

Time tracking provides a way to track the hours spent on individual activities and the overall project.

The best way to keep track of time is through project management software.

Let’s see how it works in this article.

Why use time reporting software?

As we saw earlier, time tracking provides a way to keep track of hours spent on each separate task and the overall project.

This visibility helps measure the accuracy of work estimates and employee effectiveness.

Time reporting as part of project management software should allow team members to add time items to activities easily.

Once time has been recorded, the software should allow time reports to be accessed and printed.

These features will help keep track of team members’ workload and report accurate information to stakeholders.

The software makes it remarkably easy to manage time without adding extra work, and not only that… did you know, for example, that you can not only track who uses the software but also incentivize them with Gadgets to use it?

How does software time reporting work?

It may sound bizarre, but many of the questions we get from you are about aspects that we take for granted, such as, “to keep track of time, do I have to do everything manually?” or “How do I quickly tell if my project is on schedule?” (Those who have asked this question might also be interested in this article about how to calculate project progress).

We apologize if we took these answers for granted so many times. Here we will try to explain some of the steps more simply.

1. Addition of time entries

Ideally, project management software provides a way of choosing whether to create time entries manually or use an automatic tracker.

Each option has pros and cons, so the best solution depends on your task or project.

Manual time tracking allows employees to choose a task and manually enter the number of minutes or hours spent on it.

The greatest advantage of this method is that time tracking can be completed quickly and at any time without the need to remember to turn a timer on and off.

Yet, the biggest downside is that it can potentially lead to inaccurate tracking.

An alternative is using a tracker to record the time spent on each activity automatically.

Employees would click a button on the software when they begin a task and then pause or stop the timer each time they stop work.

2. Time tracking

A project management software should be able to show work hours in many ways:
By task: this visualization allows you to manage work down to the detail and helps you find which tasks are exceeding the budget or being delayed.
By project: provides a general overview and quick assessment of project progress and performance.
By employee: provides a means of monitoring and assessing productivity and workload at an individual level. This measure becomes especially critical if employees are paid by the hour, but it is also helpful for salaried employees. For example, you can compare the time spent by two different employees to complete similar tasks. If one took considerably longer, it could indicate that the other has discovered a better way to do things or that the first employee needs more training. And again, it can be used to monitor and streamline workload. If one of the employees clocked 60 hours of work and another only 20 hours, it might be necessary to redistribute activities.

3. Reporting

There are two types of reports that project management software should be able to produce:

Task sheets
Time reports

Task sheets allow employees to get a quick overview of the activities they worked on during a given week and the work hours spent working on each.

These activity sheets should include:

Activities on which the employee has enabled time tracking during the chosen week,
Tasks assigned to the employee, which were scheduled for the selected week,
Any task that the employee chooses to add to the task sheet manually.

The benefit of having an activity sheet is that it allows each contributor to track their progress easily.

It also provides a centralized place to see what they need to focus on each week and how their progress toward each activity is going.

Time reports are exciting, helpful documentation to the project manager and other relevant parties.

These should be accessible within the software and downloadable as CSV or PDF files.

In addition, time reports should be customizable so they can be separated by task, project, employee, and/or chosen periods.

Twproject’s streamlined approach for managing timesheets helped with user adoption as the Advance team found it so easy to track their time.

Read the interview with Advance and find out how they optimised time reporting with Twproject

Choosing the right tool

Time monitoring does not simply mean having a nice-looking dashboard; it allows you to observe how the team’s work time is distributed. See how Twproject can help you in doing that.

To choose a tool that will meet expectations, you need to know what the requirements of a project are.

Here are the questions that should be answered:

What are you trying to achieve?
Which time tracker helps you do this in the least number of steps?
Time-tracking software has become a vital tool in most organizations, providing leaders with information to make work more efficient.
Although starting time tracking may be challenging at first, the long-term benefits will soon become evident to project managers and team members.
The bottom line is time reporting provides the foundation for boosting productivity at work because you can only optimize what you measure.

However, the best way to understand is to try and do! So, why don’t you give Twproject a try for free?

Project variance: how best to manage it

Project variances are a real nuisance, and successful project managers must manage them as best they can.

CONTENT

What are design variations?
Why is change management important?
How to best manage the project variance
1. Initiating a change request
2. Evaluation of the change request
3. Analysis of the change request
4. Implementation of the amendment
5. Completion of change request
Project variants: Conclusions

Changes are inevitable and can occur at any point in the project life cycle.

The key is finding the best way to accommodate and adapt to these changes.

Let’s see in this article what a project variance is and how best to manage it.

What are design variations?

Project variants are qualitative or quantitative changes to the project that become necessary due to certain changes, such as:

Changes to the delivery date and project milestones.
Changes in costs related to personnel or other resources needed for the project. (You might be interested in this article on how to get project costs under control)
Technical changes, such as switching to new technology or software.
Change of priorities.
New laws and regulations.
People leaving the project and/or new people joining the team.

In essence, a change that leads to a design variance is anything that will impact other design elements.

Some of these changes may be expected, such as a stakeholder sharing details at a later date that, having not been anticipated, could affect the project’s scope.

However, many of these changes may be completely unforeseen and difficult to plan for in advance.

Why is change management important?

Effective change management is a vital skill for a project manager to learn.

However, this does not mean that all required changes are necessary or that a project manager must be so flexible as to allow changes whenever the clients want them.

The ability lies in creating a robust process that tells stakeholders when it is permissible to request changes and how.

This kind of flexibility in project management improves stakeholder satisfaction while helping to establish clear project boundaries and objectives.

How to best manage the project variance

We now come to this article’s critical point: how best to handle a project variance.

Here are what the main steps are:

1. Initiating a change request

The first point is to receive a change request.

There may be numerous reasons for this: for example, content creation may be delayed, and as a result, an adjustment of the due date is required.

Although a request is more likely initiated by a stakeholder or project leader, in principle, anyone can request a change.

A change request must include all the information necessary for its evaluation.

2. Evaluation of the change request

In the evaluation phase, a decision regarding the project variant is not mandatory, but the background information and implications that the request would have on the overall project are checked.

Critical factors in a project include timing, cost and budget, documentation, quality, and resources.

Initiating a change in the life cycle of a project should be done only after changes to these factors have been properly determined and analyzed.

If the change request passes the initial evaluation, it goes to the analysis stage, where a final decision is made.

3. Analysis of the change request

At the analysis stage of the expected effects of the changes, the final decision is made on whether the application will be approved or rejected.

An approved change request must be documented in the change log and at any other point in the project communication to ensure that all interested parties are informed.

Although it is not necessary to notify stakeholders of a denied request, it is still required to document the occurrence.

4. Implementation of the amendment

If the change request is approved, we move on to the implementation phase of the project variance.

Implementation will look different depending on the phase and type of project, but generally, it consists of updating plans and possibly even final results.

5. Completion of change request

Once the change request has been documented, shared, and implemented, it can be officially closed.

Although we often do not have a formal closure procedure, keeping this information in a central location to which all stakeholders can refer if necessary is still useful.

In the project’s final phase, documentation, change logs, and all communications should be stored in a common place that can be accessed later.

Project variants: Conclusions

The most important aspect of dealing with a project variance is always to be prepared.

It is important to remember that changes in project management can be commonplace, and many factors, such as resource allocation, finances, and accessibility, can also change several times during the life cycle of a project.

As a result, no matter how detailed the project plan is and how well prepared a project manager may be, changes present challenges that are sometimes very tough.

Fortunately, technology is also a valuable aid in project management.

Good project management software becomes a good ally for project managers in all industries.

This tool can guide you through the entire process of collecting and managing changes throughout the project life cycle.

The project variance can be best managed with the proper knowledge and the best project management software.

Sprint planning: how to plan it to achieve your goals

Sprint planning is an essential part of the Scrum management process.

CONTENT

What is sprint planning?
Sprint planning execution
1. Sprint planning meeting
2. Past sprints review
3. Establishing your sprint goal
4. Break down the objective into tasks
Resource allocation
6. Setting a time period
7. Measuring progress
8. Sprint review
Benefits of successful sprint planning

Creating a successful sprint planning is similar to writing clues for a treasure hunt – if these are too detailed they will kill the fun, if poorly detailed then nobody will be able to find the treasure.

So let’s take a look at what a sprint planner is and how to plan it to achieve goals in this article.

What is sprint planning?

Sprint planning is an event in the Scrum framework in which the team establishes product backlog elements that they will work on during that particular sprint.

There are several key elements that should be included in any sprint plan. Here are the most important ones:

Sprint goals: they must be specific, measurable and achievable. They must also be coherent with the overall goals of the company.
Required tasks to achieve said goals: Having established goals, it is time to figure out what needs to be done to achieve them. This includes a time sequence and estimate for each activity.
Task assignment to team members: after each task has been outlined, it will be required to assign it to specific team members. This helps to ensure that everyone has a clear understanding of what they need to do and prevents overlapping.
Sprint backlog: this is a list of all the tasks that need to be completed in the current sprint, as well as their priority level.

Sprint planning execution

Here’s how to perform sprint planning – in most cases:

1. Sprint planning meeting

The first step is to meet with all stakeholders who need to be updated on the progress of the sprint. This may include, for example, top management, customers, or other departments within the same organization.

2. Past sprints review

To establish a realistic plan for the current sprint, it is helpful to review what has been accomplished in the past. This can be a great help in setting achievable goals and avoiding repetition.

3. Establishing your sprint goal

The objective of the sprint should be clearly communicated to all members of the development team and all stakeholders. In addition, it should be in writing and accessible to everyone at all times.

4. Break down the objective into tasks

This is where the real work begins: each task should be clearly outlined and assigned to a specific person to complete.

5. Resource allocation

Once tasks are assigned, it must be determined who has the time and resources to complete the various tasks.

6. Setting a time period

Each activity should be assigned to a specific time period. This helps keep work on track and prevents activities from dragging on too long.

7. Measuring progress

It is important to keep track of the team’s progress during the sprint to make sure they are on track to achieve their goals. In Twproject, for example, there is an option to check whether the team is using Project tools through a user score.

8. Sprint review

The final step is a review of the sprint at the end of the work to assess what has been accomplished and determine whether the goals have been met. This meeting should also be used to generate feedback that can be used in future sprints.

Benefits of successful sprint planning

Working with sprints is a great way to tackle complicated projects.

By dividing a complex project into smaller tasks, along the lines of the Work breakdown structure, it is possible to ensure the quality of the product and deliver it on time.

The following are some of the benefits of sprint planning:

Greater focus

By dividing the entire project into a series of smaller activities, it is possible to direct the team’s focus on solving the problem at hand and achieving the specific goal.

Reduced costs

By using sprints, it is possible to meet any change requests that affect subsequent sprints, while the activities of previous sprints will remain unaffected. This saves time and reduces overall project costs.

More transparency

Agile teams are required to share all information, and each member works with the same vision of the end result in mind. Since everyone is on the same page the chances of the project going off track are dramatically reduced.

Improved morale

Agile methodologies do not limit team members to the organizational hierarchy; this means that each member’s opinion has equal importance and respect. This feeling of being valued within the team motivates employees to work better and align their personal interests with the organization.

Increased productivity

Sprints in project management increase team efficiency and enable continuous improvements. This obviously has a direct effect on the overall increase in team productivity.

Increased customer satisfaction

Because clients can share their thoughts throughout the project life cycle, the final product generally lives up to their expectations.

Adaptability

Shorter sprints allow the team to change according to the situation and customer demands.

Team building

Project teams are often composed of diverse people who would be unlikely to interact under normal circumstances. Agile sprints encourage collaboration among all members, and these interactions can help employees feel comfortable with each other.

Reduced risks

While working on a project sprint, a team has multiple opportunities to address a potential problem before it materializes. Through daily stand-ups, employees know the problems each member faces and work promptly to address it.

Bottom line, proper sprint planning using the right project management software can turn the end goal into an easy-to-follow path.

After the planning meeting, all team members will know what the end goal is and will be committed to accomplishing it.

Through efficient sprint planning, the risk of unexpected occurrences is significantly reduced, allowing everyone to focus fully on delivering quality work.

Project costs: everything under control

A successful project must not only be on time, but also on your budget.

In this article we will see how Twproject manages project costs.

The overall cost of a project depends mainly on the scope of application; the list of items contributing to the total will be very different between a consultancy project, a building construction project or an R&D project.

We can identify two categories of costs: those related to the people involved (resources) and those related to material goods (or “lump sum” services) necessary for the execution of the project.

For the resources we will have both the costs of the work done (simplifying: hours worked x hourly cost) and any costs incurred by the resource for carrying out the work (expense notes).

For all these entries Twproject collects both estimated and actual values. These data compared with the expected budget will give a complete picture of the progress of the project from an economic point of view.
A simple management of expected and actual revenues will also allow an estimate on the cash flow.

Let see in detail how it works.

Resources: the hourly cost

Each resource has its own hourly cost which depends on many factors (duties, seniority, etc.). Its definition is beyond the tasks of the PM.
Once this cost has been determined, it can be entered in the user card:

It is quite common to insert a “standardized” cost instead of the actual cost of the resource, in order to solve the problem of the exact calculation which could be complex.
In this editor you can also assign the resource to a cost center for cross-project analysis.

To simplify data input, in Twproject, both the hourly cost and the cost center (but also the working time) can be defined at the resource, department or company level; in this way the value will be inherited unless otherwise specified.

Resource’s cost will be entered only once, as it represents the “business cost” and will be the same on all projects in which this resource will be involved.

Resource costs: the cost of work

On each project, phase, sub-phase, etc. you can indicate resources that are involved through the assignment.
The project estimation is specified during the assignment phase (100 hours in the example below).

Entering the expected hours, the estimated cost of this assignment will be computed using the actual resource hourly cost.

Each time a resource enters the hours worked on the project, a phase or a ToDo, the total will be updated on the project, thus generating a real cost that we could then compare with the one entered in the estimation phase.

In Twproject there are many ways to enter the hours worked; the timesheet (weekly, bi-weekly, monthly), the start / stop buttons on projects and ToDo, while closing a ToDo etc.
It’s a very quick and easy operation.

One “worker hour” record, brings with it the hourly cost and the cost center of the resource at the date of insertion.

Resource costs: expense reports

An expense item related to resources is the expenses report.
For some projects it is a non-negligible cost item and Twproject takes it into account; both in the estimation and reporting phases.

Expense reports and work costs close the resources related costs.
The summary dashboard looks like this:

For each resource we find the estimated hours, the hours worked, the hourly cost, the equivalent amounts, personal budget, total expenses incurred. At the end the estimated total cost and real cost.
Each overshoot is clearly visible and marked in red.
If the project is divided into phases, the last line will report estimates and costs on the entire underlying tree.
Estimates and costs can be structured along the WBS (Work Break-down Structure) simplifying its analysis .
Browsing through WBS will show at a glance where there are discrepancies between estimate and actual:

Twproject was our number 1 choice as a project management tool, because it provided an excellent combination between the pure project management and the budget and cost control view

Read the interview with Temera and find out why they eventually chose Twproject for project cost management

Additional project costs

This category includes all those costs that are not dependent on the activities of the resources.
Typical examples: materials, licensing costs, external consultancy, suppliers, rental fees, etc.
For each of these items, you can enter estimated and actual value, classification, cost center, any attachment etc .:

Also in this case a table will summarize the values for this project / phase and a summary row for the data of the sub-phases:

Project’s budget

So far we have compared the estimated values with the actual ones.
Twproject allows us to add a dimension, the project budget.
The project budget can have different meanings and uses depending on the goal we aim to achieve.
A very common use, which is adopted by companies that work on order, is that the “budget” represents the “cost to the customer”. In this sense, the summary table is quite clear:

On the “Forecast” line we will read the expected margin for the entire order. This is the data that comes to the PM from the commercial negotiation.
On the “Estimated” line we will read how much margin we still have to stay in the estimated: depending on the phase of the project (start, ongoing or completed) it can be used in different ways, but in any case it depends on the quality of the estimates made by the PM (or by the project team).
The last line “Actual” also takes on different meanings depending on the phase, but upon completion it will tell us the profit we will “take home” with the project.

Even for what concerns the budget, it is possible to indicate it both at project level and at phases / sub-phases.
This approach, especially on very complex projects, together with the refined security management of Twproject, allows you to implement a delegation mechanism, in which the PMs of the underlying phases can manage their own budget.

With Twproject you can analyze costs, expense reports and cross-project hours worked with dedicated tools. Of course, there is also an export to Excel for fans 🙂

Remember that all changes to costs, budgets, hours entered, expense reports etc. are recorded daily in the project statistics, so it is always possible to go and see what the situation was on a given date:

To contextualize the costs with the other project parameters (dates, progress, ToDos, hours worked etc.), the statistics page with the use of the slider will allow you to have a complete picture at any point in the past:

Complementary to cost management, Twproject also provides tools for revenue management, but we will address this part in a dedicated post.

Try Twproject for free and see how easy it is to have the project costs under control without complications.

CONTENT

The perfect expense report

Personal data

Expense list

Date and place

Reimbursement of expenses incurred

Managing expense reports in complex projects

Variety of expenses

Complexity of the reporting process

Twproject: a one-stop solution for managing expense reports

Keep costs under control with Twproject

The perfect expense report

Personal data

Expense list

Date and place

Reimbursement of expenses incurred

Managing expense reports in complex projects

Variety of expenses

Complexity of the reporting process

Twproject: a one-stop solution for managing expense reports

Keep costs under control with Twproject

CONTENT

What is a cost center?

Why create a cost center map

6 tips on how to simplify large projects with the cost center

1. Get a cost management software

2. Clearly define your cost centers

3. Assign a specific budget

4. Monitor costs regularly

5. Build your team

6. Perform regular reviews

Managing cost centers with Twproject

Keep costs under control with Twproject

CONTENT

7 project management books to read on vacation

1. The Lean Startup

2.Project Management for Dummies

3. Getting Things Done

4. Crucial Conversations

5. The Mythical Man-Month

6. Fiabe della buona notte per Project Manager

7. Project & Process Management

Use Twproject to generate your status update reports.

CONTENT INDEX

Project Performance Domain: what are they?

Team Performance Domain: what is it about?

Expected results of the Performance Domain Team

Work together with your team effectively

Dependencies in the Gantt

Introduction of new types of dependencies in the Gantt

The application of the concept of “elasticity”

Other news

The new release is waiting for you

CONTENT

Statistics on women quota in project management

Challenges women face in project management

Efforts to promote women’s share in project management

We have the tools, we have the culture.

CONTENT

PMBoK 7 vs. PMBoK 6: introduction to the differences

1. Basic principles

2. Performance Domains

3. Hybrid and agile approaches

Project Manager Challenges in Consideration of PMBoK 7

1. Adapting to a more flexible and agile approach

2. Managing stakeholder expectations

3. Focusing on value creation

4. Managing uncertainty and risk

5. Developing personal skills and leadership

5 practical tips for tackling new challenges in Project Management

1. Regular training

2. Networking and collaboration

3. Adopting an experimental approach

4. Reflecting and learning from experience

5. Balancing strictness and flexibility

Keep up with the times.

CONTENT

7 tips to increase work productivity

1. Focus on one activity at a time

2. Take regular breaks